


Premonition of Grey Skies

by Mooples



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Angst, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Non-Binary Runner Five, Season/Series 08 Spoilers, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23141812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooples/pseuds/Mooples
Summary: Everything always seems nice in the beginning, but it doesn't take long for the danger to erupt and wash over everyone and everything that Five cares about. For a moment the danger feels like it's passed, but with every moment of lovely blue skies, Five knows the grey will soon arrive.Takes place Post Season 8.
Relationships: Moonchild | Cynthia Hill & Runner Five, Runner Five/Sam Yao
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	1. Dreams of Guilt

The warmth of the sun that was shining down on Five’s skin was enough to make them stop their jog and take in their surroundings. The hill they stood on had soft grass growing, each strand curling over their toes, comforting on their bare feet. Something about it felt so very familiar to them. The smell of new life turned around them, birds singing sweet melodies, making them close their eyes and smiling. Feeling safe and free, open and able to do anything and go anywhere they felt.

The scent changed. The warmth suddenly left and Five opened their eyes to see the once blue sky had darkened to a grey, in a flash the softness of the grass had died as they crumbled at their feet, still bare foot the ground was rough and painful, and the gentle chirping of birds replaced with hungry growls and screams of terror. The sound of a helicopter above them suddenly flying by. They felt a pull on their shirt and jerked forward trying to get away, the screams directly behind them now. Cuts and scrapes appeared all over their body and healed and faded into scars within moments, a sharp pain in their neck as though receiving an injection, a crawling feeling emanating from it. Burns and bruises and everything painful, gunshots resounding and the cries and screams of people who sounded so familiar to Five, calling out for them. Fear gripped Five as they tried to run away, the voices getting louder and more understandable.

“Why couldn’t you have saved me!”

“You let me die!”

“You killed us!! So many of us!!”

“You weren’t fast enough!”

“Why didn’t you try harder?”

“You’re a murderer!!”

They just kept running, their legs feeling like jelly as the ground felt like it was sucking them down.

A sudden pain on their shoulder and the feeling of something biting down, tearing the skin open and blood bursting everywhere before shrinking back up and fading into an ugly scar. They stopped running, the tears on the edge of their eyes finally falling as they collapsed and the voices came closer and shouted louder and louder. Five begged for it to stop, to please return to the open, soft hills.

Suddenly soft hands wrapped around them, pulling them out of the ground and grasping their face, wiping away tears from closed eyes Five knew instinctively who it was.

“Wake up Five,” Moonchild whispered to them.

They shot up.

The grey skies and screams were gone, they were in the dark save for a gentle blue light, sitting on Sam’s cot in the communications shack. The blanket over them having slipped off onto the floor and Five could see Sam slumped over asleep at the desk.

They’d been coming to stay late in the comms shack with him for a while, more and more often since they had gotten back from Mor Island. It was getting too hard to be near Jodie, guilt overcoming them anytime she was nearby. So instead of sleeping in their usual bunk near her they’d been finding themselves using Sam as an excuse.

Taking a moment to wipe the sweat off their face Five took a deep breath. Grounding themselves in their reality before quietly standing up and picking up the blanket they’d kicked off during their nightmare and tip toeing over to Sam, silently draping it over him and not being able to help the grin from forming on their face looking at the large pool of drool all over the desk. 

Still quiet, Five walked over to the door and put their shoes on, grabbed their jacket from the nearby chair and slipped outside.

The air was cool and the skies grey with only the barest hint that the sun would soon begin to rise, the slight chill that came over them was enough to get rid of any sweat that had previously coated their skin.

Standing outside in their sleep shorts, Five thought for a moment about going back to their bunk and grabbing some pants, before shaking their head and deciding to run without them. They took a moment to stretch their legs and back before shaking their body to loosen up enough for a good run. They needed to get whatever that nightmare was out of their system.

They walked to the perimeter of Able and stood still for just a moment, taking in a deep breath, the crisp air soothing.

And they ran.

Just a light jog at first, hoping that the running would help them be able to pay attention to their surroundings. For a bit it did, passing two, three, four buildings felt good. For maybe ten minutes the jog helped, until a creeping feeling started to sneak up on Five. They picked up their pace, passing a couple housing areas where people were beginning to wake up and step outside. They continued on, passing the farmhouse and getting a glimpse of Archie’s statue, getting an uncomfortable feeling and once again speeding up, now fifteen minutes running Five was more than halfway around Abel. The sun was rising now, and though the skies were still grey the slightest hint of warmth that fell on Five as they ran brought back the memories of the dream, the sweetness of the hill and what felt like a long lost home, and then the fear and the voices and death all around them. They were sprinting by this point, no longer paying attention to the area around them as well as they should. 

A sudden shout of alarm from someone as Five nearly bowled through them in their sprint, barely missing them and continuing on, their panic building as they tried desperately to shake the fear from the night before.

_You need to stop Five._

Moonchild’s voice rang out clear in their head but Five ignored her, they needed to run.

_Just running isn’t going to fix your problems, you’re going to hurt yourself, and in doing so you’re going to hurt me._

They didn’t care.

_Wow, thanks._

They could hear someone calling out to them from ahead but they were too focused on running to notice who it was.

“Five! Five you need to slow down! Watch out!”

Before they could process anything Five felt their foot fall much further down than where the ground should be, they fell, their face crashing into the ground with their hands attempting to break their fall, not doing much to help and leaving them to bounce once and skid before finally coming to a stop and laying still.

_Told you._

Five didn’t move but went to do a mental check of everything. Their face hurt, probably bleeding, arms and legs seemed bruised and scratched but otherwise fine, and their foot they tripped with… shockingly felt ok, maybe a little sore. After assessing themselves they got control of their body and moved to stand back up.

What sounded like several sets of footsteps ran up behind them and a voice called out to them.

“Five are you alright?”

Jodie.

They didn’t say anything but just nodded their head, not making eye contact with her, but also noticing several other runners who had come over to see the disaster that was Runner Five, picking themself off the ground. Jodie reached down to help them up along with Paula, both taking their arms and getting Five back on their feet.

Quietly Five let out a “Thanks.”

Paula took a moment and looked over Five, “You should probably go see Maxie, you’ve got a cut on your forehead that may not be too bad but it looks kind of nasty.”

Jodie, still watching Five to make sure they didn’t fall over, “You were really going fast there Five, are you alright?”

They nodded, staring at the ground, how could they have been so stupid, there was no reason to go so fast, especially around the piremeter, they should have gone to the training area, plenty of space to run without risk of holes in the ground. They wanted to say something, to get whatever was stuck inside their throat out, but whenever they tried their thoughts stayed locked up tight.

“Mmhm… nightmare…” was all they were able to say, thinking it to be the simplest answer.

_That’s easier than saying ‘Hey I’m burdened with the fact that Ellie was killed within moments of arriving on Mor Island coupled with the fact that I wasn’t able to save your boyfriend from being killed along with every other trauma leading up to that as well, since all of my issues are still unresolved leaving me feeling like a gaping black hole that sucks in everyone I care about and puts them at risk by letting them know even the tiniest detail about me so now I’m shutting everyone out because maybe that will keep them safe.’_

Yeah.

“Nightmares are no fun,” Jodie took Five’s arm to make sure they were steady, “Don’t worry Paula, I’ll make sure they get to Maxie.”

“Alright, be careful Five, we don’t want you injuring yourself right before we go on an actual running mission.”

Right, Five and Paula were scheduled to go on some sort of meetup run the next day. Should be easy as they would just be going most of the way by car before running on foot to the final location. While Five let their mind wander thinking about this they let Jodie guide them toward the hospital, were more than just Maxine would be working, but Five, along with every other Runner, always felt more comfortable seeing, aside from Kefilwe of course.

By the time they reached the hospital the sun had risen, and the cold grey sky that Five had started their run on was now gone. They walked with Jodie, not speaking when they could, feeling the intense guilt that consistently overwhelmed them wash over them once more.

“I heard there’s a bunch of kittens that arrived here yesterday, if you’re not too badly injured we should go see them later, since you and Paula don’t go until tomorrow.”

Five responded with a slight head nod.

“Maybe I can convince Janine to come see them too! It’ll be a fun little outing. And more than anyone she really needs it.”

They didn’t react to that, but more than anyone Janine was the last person Five felt like they could interact with. After everything that had happened, Jodie was one thing, but Tom had been Janine’s brother. And only recently had finally been able to reconcile their issues and had just begun to be a family again, and because Five hadn’t been fast enough…

Tom was dead.

Five wanted to run.

There were some birds chirping in the distance that they let their thoughts wander to as Jodie and them began to walk up to the hospital. They wondered what it would be like to be able to fly… if like running it was another way to be set free.

They’d like to fly away. Not in a machine or contraption, but on their own, be a small bird and fly away from any and all of their issues and problems that they don’t know how to deal with.

The two of them walked inside and were able to quickly get ahold of Dr. Lobatse who took Five into a room and sat them down so she could clean their face and get a look at whether or not the cut was as bad as it seemed.

“How’d this happen Five?”

Jodie responded for them, “They tripped in a hole while running, face planted in the ground.”

“Well that’s not much of a surprise, injured while running, I feel like that’s how you come by most of your scraps,” Dr. Lobatse was smiling at Five while getting the last of the dirt and blood wiped off their face, “Alright, well this doesn’t look like it’ll need any stitches, just a bandage. I’ll check your legs too, just to make sure you’re not hiding anything more.”

As Lobatse poked and prodded on their ankle, making sure that nothing was really wrong, Five started thinking about the birds again.

_Man you’re really out of it today aren’t you._

They would appreciate being left alone to their bird thoughts.

_You should be focusing more on being able to do your mission tomorrow._

It would be easier to focus if there wasn’t someone chit chatting in their head, trying to distract them.

_I thought we had gotten past this Five. We’re supposed to be working together, sharing a body after all._

They weren’t sharing, Moonchild had just decided to come live there, not really asking if Five was fine with it.

_Whatever, oh you should probably pay attention, Kefilwe is talking to you._

Oh.

“-as long as you keep up with stretches as well then you should be fine to run tomorrow.”

Five nodded and stretched their legs while waiting for Dr. Lobatse to bandage the cut on their head, before standing up and stretching again.

Jodie took their hand and started to pull them away as soon as they seemed fine.

“Thanks Kefilwe! We’re off to go see the new kittens!”

New kittens.

As they were pulled outside and began walking towards their new destination, Five couldn’t help but stare up at the sky.

It was the same blue from the dream, the sunlight’s warmth and the sweet sounds of birds, all the same.

They couldn’t help but wonder when the grey sky and screams of agony would arrive.

  
  



	2. Bad Choices

“Aaaaaalright Runner Five, Runner Twenty Three, both of your headsets working properly?”

“Loud and clear Sam. Five’s giving me a thumbs up and we’re both ready to run,” Five smiled awkwardly at Paula, as they were one to do, and the two of them continued to stretch as the sound of the jeep’s driving slowly came to a stop.

Once the car had stopped and Five opened the door they could hear the sounds of birdsong flow through the trees, a small feeling of calm wafted over them.

_ I like hearing the birds, for a while it felt like we’d never hear them again. _

Five agreed.

Paula thanked their driver as she got out and stood next to Five, both of them taking a minute to figure out the route they needed to take.

Sam’s voice resounded in their headsets, “Okay, so you two are at essentially the first checkpoint, you’re going to continue northeast for now. And after about two kilometers there should be a river, or stream, flowing body of water if you will, and you’re gonna turn and follow it upstream.”

“Thanks Sam, alright Five, let’s run.”

Paula and Five started off with a light jog heading in the direction Sam had indicated. After a few minutes of getting themselves warmed up Paula glances over at Five.

“So Five, Sara was asking about you this morning.”

They couldn’t stop a little grin from forming on their face. “Oh?”

Five let Paula run just slightly ahead, thankful to not have to be in charge of things for the day.

“Oh yes it was very sweet, she was in the middle of eating her breakfast when she just paused halfway through and went, ‘I gotta see Five today. I made them something.’ So I said, ‘What did you make them?’ And,” Five could tell Paula was trying not to laugh, “she said, ‘Uh, that’s a secret for Five only.’ And and, it was just so cute. So you better go find Sara when we get back, she’s got a secret for you.”

A little warm feeling wandered around in Five’s chest. They loved Sara with every fiber of their being. They felt like they’ve been too standoffish even since her birth… and Sara still liked them.

It made them feel good.

_ It’s just because she’s a kid. Kids don’t know a lot of things that young. _

Probably… but it still felt good to Five.

They continued running, with Sam over the headsets giving them some directions here and there, finally reaching the river and beginning to follow it upstream.

“Oh Five, Jody wanted me to ask how your leg was doing, she told me you fell yesterday, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Wasn’t a big deal.”

Sam scoffed, “‘Wasn’t a big deal’ sure Five sure. But, but seriously how’s your leg?”

They rolled their eyes, “‘M fine Sam.”

_ You’d still be running even if it wasn’t. _

True but they weren’t gonna tell Sam that.

_ You’re gonna get yourself into trouble one day. _

Like they haven’t already.

_ The kind of trouble that you’re not going to be able to run your way out of. And the kind that I won’t be able to help you with. _

Like she was super helpful anyways.

_ If I wasn’t helpful I wouldn’t tell you that there’s a rock slightly hidden that you’re about to trip over. _

They looked and jumped at the last minute, managing to avoid tripping and giving Sam another reason to worry.

_ You’re welcome. _

“How much longer are we running up river Sam? And what are we looking for?”

“Eeehhh I’m not… entirely sure, the Rofflenet message was anonymous. But gave us a tip that there would be a cache or an underground laboratory of some sort, that would have some of Van Arks research, ideally some information about what he would have injected you with, since we still have no idea there, along with you know, more possibilities to recreate the serum for Peter. Either way, finding anything that can help us in general is good.”

_ Five, I don’t want to startle you, or interrupt your boyfriend’s spiel. _

Then don’t.

_ Someone’s following you two. Maybe two someones… it’s hard to tell. But you definitely have one or two people watching you. _

Where?

_ There’s at least, one person to the right of the river, across from you… and another on your side behind you… the one across the river I could see when you looked over at Paula, but I think I can hear another pair of footsteps behind us. _

Five looked to their right, looking past Paula they could indeed see someone jogging in the trees next to them.

Should they stop?

_ I don’t know, it could be a trap up ahead, or they could just be people trying to cause trouble. _

Only one way to find out, Five motioned for Paula to stop, pretending that they were out of breath and needed to take a break.

“You alright Five?”

Sam’s voice sounded over the radio. “What’s wrong, why did you stop?”

After stopping Five waited for a second to see if the figures would jump out and attack them, trying to rob them…. nothing, they stayed out of sight, though Five would tell they were still there.

_ So it’s probably a trap up ahead. _

Five covered their headset mic and mouthed the words “followed” and “trap” to Paula. It took her a moment to realize what they’d said, and when she did she took a moment to stretch.

“Sorry Sam, we’ve been running a lot we just need a moment to breathe, take a moment to analyze our surroundings.” With her saying that Five pointed their headcam towards the person across the river.

Sam was quiet for a moment before making a small noise of acknowledgement and saying, “Hang on, I’ve just gotten a message from Janine, you two are needed back here straight away. Sorry Five, this will have to wait until another day.”

“Aw darn,” Paula said, but motioned for Five to head to the left, hoping that they would be able to get away from the people following them by going left.

The two started running again, Sam guiding them along trying to get the two of them away from the mystery followers.

It wasn’t long after that Moonchild’s voice returned.

_ There’s more Five. _

She was right. Five kept looking at their surroundings trying to get an estimate of how many more had shown up. Three? Maybe four.

“Paula, I feel like I could eat three, maybe four extra pieces of toast tonight.”

“When I was last chatting with someone in the kitchen they said that there might be enough for people to have at least  _ five  _ pieces of toast total for dinner tonight.”

“Delightful.”

Sam hadn’t responded in a while, which for a moment made Five nervous but then his audio clicked in.

“Hey guys I’ve got some cameras just a little bit ahead of where you are. I can see some group heading towards you from the north, they’re moving slow enough to be shamblers but they could catch up quickly, best to keep up the pace.”

Cameras, that’s good.

_ I doubt he has cameras, but it’s clear that whoever is following you has access to your radio channel. I think he’s just trying to scare them off. _

Could she be positive for like three minutes?

_ Not when my life is on the line. _

She’s already dead.

_ My second life then. _

Five had a feeling that the people following them knew that they knew they were there.

_ You just now figured that one out? _

Shut up.

They could vaguely hear Sam saying something over the radio but now they were annoyed with Moonchild.

_ If you don’t want me here why don’t you say so. _

They’ve said it multiple times.

_ But you’ve never meant it. _

This is not the time to have this conversation.

_ You started it. _

There was a tone of worry in Sam’s voice but Five couldn’t make out what he was saying.

_ You should be paying attention to what he’s saying. _

They couldn’t, her voice was too loud.

_ Well now you’re just being petty I don’t talk that loud. _

Five’s fists were clenched while they ran, their nails beginning to dig into their skins. Sam yelled something. Five couldn’t hear and kept running.

“Five!” Paula grabbed their arm, effectively bringing them out of it, the two of them were stopped by a group of people appearing in front of them, blocking off any other chance of exit.

“Shit.”

_ Shit indeed. _

Slowly, more and more people came out of their hiding spots, each brandishing a weapon and all of them pointing them at Five and Paula.

A man walked out in front of the main group, smiling pleasantly at the two of them.

“Dr. Cohen, Runner Five...a pleasure being able to see you in the flesh. We’ve been looking for the two of you for a long time.”

“Paula! Five! What’s going on?”

“Ahh that pesky little Sam, you know, we’ve got quite a lot to talk about, I think it would be best if we got rid of you.”

“Who are you? What are you doing with my-“ Sam’s voice cut out of their headsets.

Paula gave Five a worried look.

“Now, it would be best if you handed over your headsets now, I would really prefer to not have to injure either one of you in any way.”

The man snapped his fingers and one of the others with a weapon walked over towards Paula, instinctually Five took a step forward prepared to fight.

_ No don’t- _

The man snapped again, immediately Five heard a gunshot and then a searing pain in the calf they’d stepped forward with, they collapsed on the ground and could hear Paula shout as she jumped forward to catch them.

“Tch tch, I would have preferred not to do that, but the first thing you need to realize is that I also do not hesitate. Besides, we really don’t want you running anywhere do we?”

Five’s vision was blurry, they were filled with anger, pain, and Moonchild angrily calling them names for not listening.

They felt rough hands grab their arms and hoisted them back to their feet, their legs buckling them but the two ruffians in either side holding them steady.

The gentleman walked closer and gently pushed Five’s chin up with his finger.

“You’re rather infamous Runner Five, and very much look forward to working with you.”

_ Five don’t do what I know you’re about to do. _

Five was mad. This man, had tricked them into running out here, taken Sam away, shot them in the leg, and even though they’ve never even met before, dared to imply they’d ever work with him.

Five spit in his face.

_ Damn it Five. _

The man didn’t react, he straightened his back, pulled a handkerchief out, wiped his face off, and snapped his fingers.

Five felt someone hit the back of their head, and it went dark.


	3. New Home

They were in the middle of a storm, rain slammed down on their skin so harshly Five felt as if every drop was a needle slapping them. The wind buffeted against them pushing them in every direction and nearly sweeping them off their feet.

Trying desperately to find something to grab onto, they found nothing. They were trapped in a storm in the middle of a dead and empty field. The moment they tried to run the wind forced them to stop.

They needed help, they needed someone to help them, so they cried out the names of anyone they could think of, hoping to be head and that a hand would appear and take theirs.

When nothing stopped the storm Five cried out again.

“Why would we help you?”

Five froze in the storm, the rain like knives on their skin, and turned to face Jody.

Seeing her they reached out, crying for her hand.

“You’ve failed us Five.”

Sam’s voice made them turn again.

“You’ve kept too many secrets.”

Janine, her voice almost like the wind, too strong for Five to avoid.

“You let us down.”

Maxine appeared as well, leaving Five surrounded.

“Please… I’m sorry…” Five reached their arms out begging someone to take it, to stop the storm.

No one did.

Lightning struck.

  
  


*******

  
  


When Five woke up the first thing they noticed was that they had a headache.

_ Someone hit you on the back of the head. _

Cool.

The next thing they noticed was that they were laying in something soft. 

_ A bed. _

Could they please get to their own conclusions without a voice interrupting them first thing when they woke up?

The last thing they noticed was that their right hand was handcuffed to the bed.

Splendid.

They attempted to sit up the best they could and with their non cuffed hand moved the blanket off of them.

They were not wearing their running outfit.

Five frowned but chose to ignore it for the time being, instead focusing on their leg. It was bandaged up, with a very small bloodstain visible where the bullet had gone through. While their leg still hurt it felt much better than it had when they were previously awake.

They leaned back against the bed and attempted to take in their surroundings.

They were in a rather nice bedroom, although relatively spare of furniture besides the bed and a dresser, for a moment Five could have believed they weren’t in the middle of the apocalypse. There was a mirror to the wall on their left, next to the window. Five got a glimpse of their face in the mirror, some scrapes and cuts had been cleaned and it was obvious they had been washed. In fact they noticed that every inch of them felt clean.

Their frown grew more prominent.

_ Don’t like that someone else gave you a bath? Come on Five this is probably the cleanest you’ve been since the start of all this. _

Excuse them for preferring that strangers not see them naked.

_ Don’t be such a teenager. _

They’d like to slap her.

_ I’m sure you would. However, your time would probably be best served trying to get out of those handcuffs. _

How? It’s not like they had anything they could pick a lock with, their supplies were obviously stolen and their clothes taken, the only thing Five had was a slightly scratchy t-shirt and loose shorts with no pockets.

No pockets, fantastic, how were they supposed to carry anything with no pockets and no bag.

Something suddenly hit them.

Where’s Paula?

_ Oh now you start asking the important questions. _

Shut up, unless she knew where she was there was no reason to talk.

Five began trying to twist their hand and wrist in the handcuffs, hoping that it hadn’t been so tightly placed that they wouldn’t be able to escape. After a few minutes of wriggling there was a quiet clink as the handcuffs fell against the side of the bed, and Five quietly and carefully slipped out of the bed and tentatively put their feet on the ground.

_ You really shouldn’t try walking. You were shot in the leg like… hmm, now that I think about it I don’t know how long we’ve been unconscious. _

Five ignored her.

The floor was cold on their bare feet but they resolved to either find their shoes or steal someone else’s while they found Paula and escaped. The moment they stood up and put pressure on their leg however, shot searing pain through them and they immediately fell to the ground.

Quietly cursing to themselves they attempted to sit up on the ground.

Alright, so trying to walk with a gunshot wound is... not great.

Using the bed they took their time trying to stand back up, putting as little pressure on their bad leg as they could. The pain was still very intense, but they had a friend to go find and help and a place to escape.

They were very much looking forward to Sara’s little surprise.

Five, relatively slowly, made their way to the door.

_ Would be a shame if it was locked. _

Five did not think about that.

They twisted the doorknob. It was in fact locked.

Fantastic.

Time to try the window.

Five carefully and slowly walked over to the window on the other side of the room. Looking it over there were little switches which they could easily pop open and in a few short seconds they had opened the window.

It was sunny outside, the sunlight warm and soft on their skin. The area they were in wasn’t a place that Five could immediately recognize, so they could assume it would be a fun trek home. Looking down Five could see they were on the second floor of the building, or house? Looking at it from the outside seemed to point to it being a house.

Five hesitated for a moment.

_ Oh now you hesitate to do something reckless. _

Five climbed out the window. There weren’t any guards on the property that Five could see. And no zombies either.

That felt strange.

_ What doesn’t feel strange to you Five? _

In all honesty, they didn’t know. But a lack of enemies around them in a place they didn’t know, was definitely one.

The pain in their leg was still prominent but they tried to ignore it. Finding various footholds on the house, Five painstakingly made their way down to the ground.

The grass was soft beneath their feet.

Five shook their head, forcing themselves to focus on the task at hand. They scanned every inch of the nearby area, and seeing no cameras they began to make their way along the side, opting to get to the ground and crawl along the bushes, keeping out of sight of any cameras they might have missed, and thus taking some slight pressure off their leg.

Once they reached the corner of the house, they very carefully poked their head out of the bushes to take a quick glance around.

No guards, no zombies, no cameras. Five got a better look at the surrounding area. Aside from the one house and a couple of fancy trees there was nothing around. Just an empty field as far as Five could see, in the far distance they could see what looked like a forest, but getting to there from the house with no cover might prove to be difficult, especially with their leg.

They ducked back down into the bush and started crawling towards the window they had spotted, it was only slightly open, but enough that Five could easily lift it enough to sneak in. They looked inside to check for any people or cameras.

Nothing.

_ This is weird. _

Five climbed in through the window. They looked to be inside of a lounging room. Unlike the bedroom they were originally in, this room was well furnished. Couches, coffee table, display cabinets with various items inside, fancy blankets. The walls painted a soft pastel green. There was a liquor trolly with an ice bucket. The lid was half off, and Five could see fresh ice inside.

There was someone here recently.

There had to be someone in this house somewhere.

There were two doorways in the room, one leading to a hallway and another to what Five presumed was a kitchen. For a split second the thought of Sam’s voice in their head saying they should take a quick peek to see if there were any curly wurlys flashed through their mind and a smiled slightly, before lowering themselves and pressing themselves against the wall to attempt to stay out of sight.

They stood still for a moment, trying to listen for any footsteps.

The silence made their heart rate rise just a tad, it was too quiet, and they found themselves wishing for Sam’s goofy commentary, if his voice was there to just say “Ooooo this is creepy.” 

That would have been enough to pull them away from the fact that it was, in fact, very creepy.

Despite there being not a single camera as far as Five could see, they couldn’t shake the feeling of someone watching them.

_ You’re right… I feel it too, this pretty, shiny place has got some bad mojo man. _

Five quietly whispered to Moonchild, “What should I do?”

She was silent in their head for a moment.

_ We should scan this floor, see if we can find anyone else. _

Five silently made their way to the kitchen, poking around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary. There was a bowl of apples on the table, and Five’s stomach growled, reminding them that it had clearly been a while since they had eaten. Their hand reached out before pausing and retracting.

_ Just eat one Five, you’re starving. Why are you hesitating? _

“It’s too loud.”

_ Then just grab one and wait until we know we’re alone before eating it. _

“What if it’s a trap?”

_ I have a feeling we were in one before we even woke up. _

Five still hesitated, but their stomach began to hurt from hunger and they reached out and took an apple.

Nothing happened.

With nowhere to put the apple at the moment Five held it in their hand as they left the kitchen through another doorway.

_ Wait stop. _

They stopped, “What?”

_...I hear footsteps… They’re coming from upstairs.. wait.. they’re coming down them! _

Five could hear the footsteps as well, and without much of an area to hide they stepped back into the kitchen and around the open door. In their haste they put too much pressure on their leg and pain shot back through the. Gritting their teeth and squeezing their eyes shut for a second they pressed themselves against the wall and tried to listen.

The person walked into the lounging area, Five still just barely out of sight. They could hear the person walk over to the liquor trolly and start putting ice into a glass, opening a bottle of something and gently pouring it.

“You know, Runner Five, I must say, for someone with a gunshot wound in your leg, you do seem to be managing relatively well.”

Their stomach shot up into their mouth for a moment and they froze.

“You should really come in here and sit down, I wouldn’t want you to permanently damage your leg, after all, we do have work to do.”

That was the voice of whoever had stopped them and Paula before.

With slight hesitation, Five walked into the lounging room, with pain shooting through their leg with every step they forced themselves to walk normally. Something about this man told them that they should show no weakness.

“Oh now I know there’s no way that doesn’t hurt to walk like that, if you’re not careful you will start bleeding again, please sit down Five.”

_ Ok so I know you’re trying to be intimidating but if you make your leg any worse you won't be able to run to escape later, this is about being smart. _

Five took a seat on the couch furthest from the man.

As he finished making his drink Five really took a proper look at him.

He was tall, wearing a clearly tailor made outfit. A sharp defined face with a very slight smile against lightly tanned skin. His hair was grey, and Five guess from the barely noticeable wrinkles in his face, that he was probably mid to late thirties. His eyes were a striking grey- blue. And with every glance towards them it felt like he was looking past just their face.

_ It feels like he’s looking at me. _

“It’s so fascinating isn’t it, to have another person with you always Five? Moonchild syndrome is one thing, but you’re something else all together aren’t you?”

_ Who is this man? _

“Who are you?”

“You can call me Professor Vaughn.” 

  
  



End file.
